The Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh is completing four years in power and this fact is being drummed into the minds of the people of this state through advertisements worth crores of rupees that, at first glance, appear nothing more than an embellished list of what the government has achieved so far.

It is clear from these advertisements that the UP government, which has lost the advantage of anti-incumbency vote this time, is hoping to ride the 'development wave' into power, with an aim to become the first non-Congress government to be re-elected to power in Uttar Pradesh. So far, it has been a trend in Uttar Pradesh to change the government in every election and Akhilesh hopes to break this cycle, which appears to be a herculean task at present, considering the bad repute earned by this government on the law and order front.

With numerous kidnappings and murders taking place in the state every day, the Akhilesh Yadav government is hard pressed to prove that it should again be the people's choice in the 2017 UP Assembly elections. The kidnapping of Divya Varshney, the six year old son of a paper mill owner of Agra from his home and his subsequent release in just 80 hours just before the Chief Minister's arrival in Agra has proved that there is a nexus between politicians and criminals in the state that is actively damaging the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh.

The kidnapping had become a serious blot on the face of the Samajwadi Party government, which has been focused on the development of Agra, with a target of winning at least 6 out of 9 assembly seats in this region. So far, the party has failed to make any serious dent on the joint dominance of BJP and BSP in this district. Even in the 2012 elections, the party had won only one seat, that of Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh of Bah, who subsequently reached Cabinet rank in the state government.

Akhilesh has been personally interested in the development projects in Agra, which includes Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Metro Railway, Inner Ring Road, Tajganj project and a number of other projects and it is clear that in the coming elections, he wishes to encash his 'goodwill', as he had already indicated in his recent visit to Agra in December when he said that his work will speak for his government in 2017.

Arriving in Agra on Thursday, Akhilesh again indicated that he himself will be watching the law and order situation in the state and promotion of sports in Uttar Pradesh will be on his priority, if he gets re-elected. He said that no government has given the state even a fraction of what the Samajwadi party government has given. He said that his government has not wasted money on useless edifices, but has spent it on real development that actually affects the daily lives of the people. He said that the Nielsen survery's ranking of the UP government was an eyeopener and more efforts will be put in before the elections to ensure that the public's dissatisfaction with the government's working is minimized.

However, despite the Samajwadi Party's efforts to publicize its work, the Muslim voters are not pleased with the party and it is the polarisation of these votes towards the Bahujan Samaj party which is worrying Akhilesh the most.

Talking to India Today, a local leader of the party said that if a Muslim had been given a ministerial portfolio in Agra, it would have gone a long way towards re-establishing the faith of the Muslims towards the party. But still, majority of the Muslims in the region are with the party and efforts are on to bring in the rest before the elections. He said that it is clear to everyone that what Samajwadi Party accomplished in just four years is more than what the others had achieved in the past two decades. The Chief Minister's image is clean and the state is developing fast, with most of the promised made by the government, fulfilled before time. So it was a strong certainty that the people of Uttar Pradesh will re-elect Akhilesh Yadav as their Chief Minister for the next 5 years in 2017.

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